It was just like any other week day for families all across the nation. The evening news was just starting and could be heard in the background in most houses. However, that night’s broadcast was one that no one saw coming: Rodney King, a 25 year old, African American, male, had been brutally beaten by two Los Angeles police officers, and the entire altercation had been caught on film. Brent Maher, a senior in high school at the time, can recall the impact it had, not only in Los Angeles, but across the nation. Rodney King was an unemployed construction worker who was out on parole after serving time in prison for armed robbery. On March 3, 1991, he was caught speeding down the highway with two other passengers. When his car was finally …show more content…
The citizens of Los Angeles began rioting in the streets, and soon enough the peaceful protest turned violent. Eighteen-year-old, Carlos Mejia, experienced this first hand. He was on his way to pick up a family member when a mob surrounded his car. They asked him if he was white and then proceeded to throw bricks at his car. Bricks were thrown through windows, buildings were burned down, and many people were injured for the sole purpose of trying to override the jury’s decision in the court case. Even though Maher didn’t agree with the ruling, he also says, “Rioting is not any kind of an answer to any of it. You might disagree with the decision or the verdict, but throwing bricks through windows is not going to make your point any better,” (Maher). However, Maher also said, “ they [the riots] did probably shake some people awake a little bit, but as far as justification, no, you can’t say they are justified,”. Eventually, the riots became too big and too dangerous to tolerate any longer and they were broken up by the National Guard. Overall, Sixty people were killed, more than twenty-three hundred were injured, and nearly ten-thousand businesses were looted and …show more content…
Due to situations like King’s, many people resented them for what they did and didn’t stand behind them in any other situations. In a poll done a week after the incident,” City residents overwhelmingly said they believed police used excessive force in the arrest and that police brutality was commonplace... A majority thought King was beaten because he was black, and that police were generally tougher on blacks than others. Half of respondents didn't view the Los Angeles Police Department as being honest,” (Wells).This poll was obviously taken when tensions were still running high, but what about today? With all of the protests that are happening or have happened in today’s society, the majority opinion still stands: that racial profiling is still happening in our police force. Along with this, however, the fight to rid this suspicion or feeling is growing stronger and stronger and has, “amplified the charge that the U.S. has taken to dispose of racially driven police shootings,” (Mac Donald). Maher addressed this issue in saying, “ I am very supportive of the police, but I would be naive to think that some police officers do not go above what needs to be done, whether this be in the use of too much force or profiling people,”. Maher’s opinion is one of many that is the driving force behind the need for